The Vatican's representative at the United Nations has shocked listeners by suggesting that there could be more child abuse within Protestant and Jewish communities than in the Roman Catholic Church.

Concerned Catholics have launched a petition calling on the Church to consolidate the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, after recent papal actions that seem to point in a different direction.

The New York-based International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) has welcomed the Vatican's call for a Holocaust denying renegade bishop to disown his reported views.

The Vatican sought to up its green credentials this week by switching on its massive electricity generating solar panels on the Pope Paul VI Hall. The development is one of a series of intended environmental initiatives.